Try playing these jigsaw puzzles with the kids for a few nights. I think you will see how easy it is to spend time having fun once you slow down to enjoy a few minutes with the family.

Check out our children’s books that are sure to be another great way to spend quality time with your family.

Ren Crawford's watercolor large colorful abstracts

Diane Rasmussen and Ren Crawford invite you to attend their Foyer Show reception featuring many pieces of Diane’s jewelry and Ren’s beautiful paintings. Diane and Ren invite you to join them for food and live music from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday August 14, 2011. Doors open from 11 AM until 7 PM Sundays.

Diane’s use of wire wrapping stones and semi precious gems to create unique earrings, necklaces, bracelets and Zen Catchers has become the hot commodity since being offered to the public in 2009.

Earrings from Huayruros Seeds and Wood Beads

King Street Art Works!
234 West King Street
Strasburg, VA 22657
King Street Art Works!

Despite the recent popularity of the Local Food movement, many communities, particularly in smaller rural towns, have resisted the trend, citing the added expense or unavailability of local goods. But in the town of Strasburg, Virginia, a small café is striving to change negative perceptions about eating locally—one plate at a time.

“Especially in rural areas, people do not spend as much of their income on food. ‘Organic food’ is seen as something for people with money— city people,” says Wendy Willis, who, along with her sister Cristina Willis, co-owns and operates Cristina’s Cafe. The café attempts to combat that perception by emphasizing the availability of locally grown produce, meats, and dairy products.

“Eating locally is most important,” says Willis, adding that Cristina’s café strives to “educate people about what is around them and what is available seasonally” by using locally produced ingredients (people in the ‘biz call this “locally sourced “) in their dishes whenever possible — sometimes as close by as the herbs and tomatoes grown in the café’s garden — and creating their menu based on what is available seasonally.

The Friday Night Farmers Market, held during the summer months, sets up along the perimeter of the café’s small gravel parking lot.

Credit: Cristina’s Cafe
In addition to serving locally sourced alternatives to the fast food found in Strasburg, Cristina’s is also strengthening this Main Street community’s local food economy by hosting a farmers market in the café parking lot. “I go to a lot of farmers markets, so I know a lot of vendors,” says Willis, who initially organized the market to serve as a place both for local vendors to sell their goods, ranging from organic berries to handmade soaps, and as gathering spot for Strasburg residents to get out and socialize. The markets are held on Friday nights to avoid competition with Saturday and Sunday farmers markets, and attract a mix of locals and tourists alike, depending on the week.

The Willis sisters have a multifaceted approach to their conservation efforts. “It’s really all about being conscious of the waste you are producing,” says Willis. The café, which is the first Virginia Green-certified restaurant in Frederick and Shenandoah Counties, has incorporated various recycling and waste reduction strategies into their business practices. “There’s no local recycling pick-up for businesses,” says Willis, “so once a week we collect everything and take it out to the recycling plant.”

Beyond recycling raw materials, the Willis sisters put a compost bin in their yard to produce soil for their herb and vegetable garden. Dairy and other kitchen scraps are sourced to a local pig farm, which in turn provides the café with some of its meat products. Meanwhile, a stormwater management system consisting of a hose and gutter system and a 1,500-gallon rain barrel collects water off their roof, which they use to water the café garden. The sisters have also taken measures to reduce the environmental impact of their building by participating as a community pilot project for solar panel installation on the roof of their café.

Two Easy Ways to Green a Business
For businesess looking to green their practices, Willis suggests the following tips:

Be conscious of how much waste you are producing. Small changes in waste management can significantly reduce costs and environmental impact.
Look for recycling and community composting programs. Many areas now offer local pick-up, but if not consider doing your own drop-offs at local recycling plants. If your business is located in a rural area, contact local farmers to see if they can take organic waste; or if you have the space, start your own composting bin. Many urban areas have community composting sites as well.

Rebecca Chan is an intern with the National Trust Main Street Center.

This article is reposted here for those who could not read it on the original site. Cristina’s is across the street from my building so I can attest to the value of the food and the contribution to the community.

I’ve become more grateful each year, more aware, and more open to what adventures life might bring. It is an exciting process this thing called life and I hope that this season we will all to be more thankful, more open and more forgiving. It is my intention to give of myself to as many of those in my circle as possible and I encourage you to consider gifting yourself to those in your life. It can often be as simple as few minutes of time, a phone call, lending a hand, a simple hug or a hand on a shoulder. A plate of cookies and a cup of hot tea with a friend is a gift of time.

Consider a gift of time to those in your circle. I bet if you do your circle of friends and family will grow to be as valuable as mine is to me.

Why is it that the mainstream media chooses to present natural acts of nature as devastating as never before? Why is “Child dies in fire.” in some obscure town making headlines on CNN or other major news outlets? Sure it is important to the family and friends of the victim and to humanity as a whole, but it happens many times over throughout the course of life. It is a given, like car accidents and snow storms so why are those things the focus of our top stories?

By reading only those stories one would think that life is only about grief, greed and graft. What should be celebrated and thrust before us each day are the stories of the millions of positive things happening around the globe. The volunteers building homes for working poor, the doctors traveling to underdeveloped nations, the artists and musicians who bring delight to the masses.

Today I ran across something on CNN that I hope you will share with your friends either through linking to this page or directly to the StreetPianos.com. Pianos in public spaces across the globe positioned for the passerby to play as he or she wishes. It is amazing how we often overlook the many talented people that we know in our everyday lives. This program gives people a public forum to share that talent with all of us.

Watch the videos. I guarantee they will make you smile.

Catch us on WSVG 790AM from 6 until 10 in the mornings and on WAMM 1230AM at 11:30AM. You can hear this and all my interviews by visiting WSVGRadion.com

Don’t forget to check out all the beautiful limited edition aircraft, nature and nautical posters on LtdPrints.com and used the coupon code WSVG to receive a discount.

Books for stepchildren can be found at MyWholeFamily.com or on Amazon.com

Linda L. Anderson whose mixed media work was featured in a recent article announcing the gallery’s formation is a professional exhibit installer. Ms. Anderson was hired to hang each member’s work to best showcase the pieces and tie the entire exhibit together. “Ms. Anderson was a Godsend” said Marcy McCann the inspiration behind the gallery. “She’s done a fabulous job bringing the various artist’s work together into a cohesive collection. The colors, textures and types of work create an feast for the eyes.” she said.

Diane Artz Furlong a life long native of Strasburg said “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this gallery to open. Painting is something I’ve done since my teens and now to be part of this makes me very proud.” It was Diane who came up with the name King Street Art Works. And at this trendy and hip little gallery she is right. King Street “art works” to enliven your soul, makes your spirit dance and will add excitement to your walls.

Ribbon cutting will be followed by the doors opening for the first time. The gallery will be open Thursday, through Monday from 10 AM until 6 PM with the exception of Sunday when it will be open from 11 AM until 7 PM. Call 465-3878 or KSAW234@gmail.com for more information.

KSAW is located in the shared space with LtdPrints.com.

Of course she claimed “Everyone of our generation knows We Will Rock You!” And I did. It was great fun chatting with her. She explained the dynamics of the jimbay drum and its origins and then made the drums wail. Had me dancing in the groove there for a few minutes.

Kester agreed to be the featured musician at my annual Strasburg Mayfest Parade Party that I began when I chaired the parade for a couple of years. It was a great way of enticing people to be in the parade. Serving up some Nathan’s Hot Dogs and having great music has been our gig ever since.

Kester will facilitate Drumming at Mayfest for LtdPrints.com

Drop by LtdPrints.com’s studio and the new King Street Art Work! gallery that shares space in this great 190 year old building.

We are looking for artists interested in participating in a new juried art venture in Strasburg, VA so we invite you to view the gallery space on Sunday March 7th at 2 PM.

There will be a info session with a guest who has already started a gallery co-op within our region. Refreshments will be provided by Cristina’s Cafe across from the new art space.

Several local artists have been working hard to make this happen. We look forward to working with artists who produce high quality art and are excited about ways to reach the art buying public.

Location: 234 West King Street, Strasburg, VA
Time: 2 PM
Date: Sunday March 7th
Contact: Marcy McCann Marcy@LtdPrints.com or 540-664-8028
Refreshments: provided by Cristina’s Cafa